NCDDR's scope of work focuses on knowledge translation (KT) of NIDRR-sponsored research and development results into evidence-based instruments and systematic reviews. NCDDR is developing systems for applying rigorous standards of evidence in describing, assessing, and disseminating research and development outcomes.

Thank you for your interest in the NCDDR Project, which was funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (Project #H133A060028). We concluded our work on September 30, 2011 and are not updating these resources, but you are welcome to use them if they are helpful to you.

NOTE:Some areas and/or products will automatically redirect to the Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (KTDRR) at www.ktdrr.org

Tracking Evidence of Knowledge Use Through Knowledge Translation, Technology Transfer, and Commercial Transactions

This issue of FOCUS extends ideas presented in FOCUS No. 26, which considered the processes of knowledge translation (KT) and technology transfer (TT) in technological innovation. Here, we explain that both KT and TT contribute to accomplishing yet a third process—commercial transaction—which is the actual transformation of knowledge embodied in products and services into beneficial socioeconomic impacts. Planning, managing, and documenting the progression of knowledge use through the technological innovation pipeline culminates in an exchange of utility between the producers and consumers of knowledge through this market mechanism.

External Validity in Research on Rehabilitative Interventions: Issues for Knowledge Translation

This issue of FOCUS discusses external validity in rehabilitation research. A checklist of external validity items is provided to help researchers write research reports that include all the information practitioners need when they see a new or revised treatment described that they think of adopting. The reporting researcher should help them answer the question "How far can we generalize this finding - is it applicable to other clients/patients, with different characteristics, in dissimilar settings treated by other clinicians?"